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Jim Rockford never made a lot of money on "The Rockford
Files" but boy did he solve those closed cases. The popular
series ran for six years with the final season running from
1978 to 1979 (although Garner would return to the role in
a number of popular TV movies that CBS tried to bury for
some reason). Unfortunately, many classic TV shows don't
get the extra love and care that their film counterparts
often do. Perhaps it all comes down to money or maybe studios
feel that the audience for these shows are too limited to
spread the love. Either way, some of these shows DO deserve
better. Universal has done pretty well by "The Rockford
Files". The first two sets had an interview with Garner
(the first season), producer/writer Cannell (the second
season) as well as the original pilot. The third season
had a preview of the fourth season and the fourth season
had a preview of the fifth and the generic extra "America's
Top Sleuths" produced for the Sleuth Channel. While the
fifth season doesn't have anything extra, it was still a
strong season. The fifth season continued to have a series
of terrific guest stars and the writing remained crisp,
witty and with the ironic tone that characterized the very
first episode four years before. What changed, however,
was a key cast member. Gretchen Corbett who played Rockford's
lawyer Beth Davenport and sort of girlfriend (we really
didn't get much detail about their relationship but she
sure was protective of Rockford). I often wondered by the
cute Corbett didn't return for the final season (outside
of the clever stories and Garner she was my main reason
for watching) and found out when reading a book on the series
that there was a contract dispute with Universal. It seems
that Universal had her under personal contract and made
a demand so high for her services to the series that the
producers couldn’t afford it. While I like Bo Hopkins he
was no Corbett and she is sorely missed during the final
season of the show. ***
We did, however, get a number of returning memorable
characters and a new character played by Tom Selleck the
charming Lance White, Private Detective who was everything
that Rockford wasn't; suave, charming and…suave. He provided
a nice comedic contrast to James Garner's Rockford. White
appeared in "White on White and Nearly Perfect" written
by show runner Stephen J. Cannell. I loved White's character.
Eventually, Selleck was offered "Magnum P.I." on the strength
of his portrayal of White a character closer to Rockford's
than White's. ***
The other character was Dennis Dugan's Richie Brockelman
who first showed up in the fourth season of the series.
While there are those who didn't care for the Brockelman
character (and the spin-off TV series which should have
featured an episode or two here as a bonus), I found Dugan
a refreshing recurring character that, again, played nicely
off of Garner's Rockford. Brokelman's fresh faced naivety
(well compared to Rockford's world weary, cynical take on
life) provided a nice comedic contrast. ---
Image & Sound:
The fifth season looks good but not perfect. The colors
have faded and there's the typical analog imperfections
you would expect. The regular episodes look about the same
as those for seasons one through four. The 90 minute special
episodes that appeared during season five look a bit worse
for the wear since the originals were altered for a 45 minute
time slot when the show went into syndication. Universal,
however, wisely included them even though the quality is
worse because the studio knew that fans would want them
even if the condition wasn't stellar. One complaint I have
is that occasionally Universal will put five episodes on
a disc taxing the capacity of the DVD to provide as strong
a picture as possible. The encoding has been pretty careful
though so this hasn't impacted the show in as negative a
way as I would have expected. ***
The shows are presented with their original mono soundtrack
intact. Some noise reduction has been used to reduce hiss
but, on the while, the clean up has been pretty good and
No Noise hasn't been overused here. ---
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